Willie "The Lion" Smith
#135,212
Most Influential Person Across History
American musician
Willie "The Lion" Smith's AcademicInfluence.com Rankings
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Communications
Why Is Willie "The Lion" Smith Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith , nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist. Early life William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen, New York. His mother and grandmother chose his names to reflect different parts of his heritage: Joseph after Saint Joseph , Bonaparte , and Bertholf . William and Henry which were added for "spiritual balance". When he was three, his mother married John Smith, and Smith was added as the boy's surname, after his stepfather.
